Tokyo Rebirth: Start From Picking Up Sayu

The hour passed quickly.

Feeling that the time was almost up, Megumi put down what he had read for a third of the time, gently took the black cat off of him, and returned to the kitchen after washing his hands.

I opened the lid and looked at the beef in the pot. I poked it lightly with a chopstick. It took a while for the meat to become soft and a little elastic.

Set the lid aside and start working on the side potatoes.

While she was peeling the potatoes...

——Ding dong~, ding dong~

The doorbell suddenly sounded from the entrance.

"I'll open the door." Yusuke Kato put down his digital pen, stood up, walked to the entrance, and opened the door with a click.

What appeared in front of him was a woman wearing a black suit and a black soft hat.

Under the lowered brim of the hat, a beautiful oval face was dotted with a red lip, with red lipstick on it, and a slightly raised corner of the mouth with a vague smile.

It's like wearing a veil, looking a little mysterious.

"Yo! Good afternoon."

The woman gently raised her hand, lifted the brim of her hat, looked over with a pair of burgundy eyes, and announced: "I'm here to see you, kid."

After finishing her words, she reached out and grabbed Yusuke's collar, brought his face closer as if to fight, licked her lips and asked: "Tell me, was it you who drew that "Chainsaw Man"? "

Warm breath blew on his face, and a smell of wine-like perfume hit his face.

Looking at the face so close to Chi Chi, Kato Yusuke couldn't help but be slightly startled. Just as he was about to speak, the other person turned his face away with a smile, put his mouth close to his ear, and blew a breath.

"You actually took out such a wonderful thing without saying a word, which made me excited too. Come and satisfy my appetite, boy."

The two of them were leaning against each other in a very ambiguous posture. It looked like one of them had taken the initiative to get close to the other's arms, as if they were flirting.

at this time--

"Yusuke...?"

"Meow meow!"

The girl's questioning voice and the cat's warning voice suddenly came from behind.

It was like a thunder exploded in his mind.

Kato Yusuke's expression changed slightly, he put his hands on Akane Benisaka's shoulders, took a step back, and let the two people distance themselves.

"...Good afternoon, Miss Kousaka." He whispered first, then turned to the left and looked towards the room.

He saw Hui Zheng, wearing an apron, standing in the corridor a few steps away. For a moment, he looked at him with an expression that seemed puzzled or something else.

The black cat, on the other hand, stood at her feet and growled in warning to the stranger.

"Oh? Are you already living with your little girlfriend? Boy."

When Yusuke Kato was organizing his words to make an introduction, Akane Kurisaka asked first.

"...Um, I remember you are Ms. Kousaka, right? Why were you holding Yusuke just now?" Kei, who asked softly, stepped forward step by step, with a very calm expression on her face.

"Why don't you ask your little boyfriend about this?"

"--oh?"

The two people's eyes came to him at the same time, one of them was amused, the other was expressionless.

Kato Yusuke thought for a while and asked the playful person: "What do you want from me? Miss Kousaka."

"What? Have you forgotten what I just said?" Akane Benisaka folded her hands, leaned against the door frame, and said with a half-smile, "I came here to satisfy my appetite, kid."

After hearing this, Kei glanced at her first, and then quickly turned her gaze back, looking at Yusuke's expression as if she was asking, "What does Miss Kousaka mean by this?"

Kato Yusuke did not answer immediately, but glanced at the rolled-up "Shounen Undead" in Akane Kurisaka's hand and asked, "For the sake of the manga?"

"Bingo, you're not too stupid." Akane Kurisaka snapped her fingers, straightened up with a joking look on her face, and walked towards the room openly.

"So that's it, take care of your little girlfriend first, I'll wait for you."

"Meow meow!" Watching her pass by him, the black cat couldn't help but arch his body, ready to pounce, but was picked up in the next second.

The person who picked it up was Megumi.

"No, Xiao Hei." She first comforted the black cat softly, and then raised her head to look at someone standing quietly by the entrance.

"Aren't you going to close the door? Yusuke."

The response was surprisingly muted.

"...Just close it." Kato Yusuke nodded and closed the door with a bang.

Seeing him approaching, the black cat instinctively wanted to jump on his shoulders, but the girl did not let go and just said:

"Yusuke has work to do now, let's not disturb them yet."

After saying that, he hugged the cat and walked into the living room with a patter.

"..."

Kato Yusuke's lips moved, but without saying anything, he followed back to the living room.

On the workbench where he was sitting before, Akane Kurisaka, who had taken off his hat and suit jacket, was sitting there, carefully studying the manuscript on the digital screen on the table.

When she heard their footsteps, she urged them.

"How's it going? Have you finished your work? If you're done, come here quickly! Boy."

Her tone was very impolite, and her originally deep voice was slightly higher than usual due to excitement.

Kato Yusuke did not respond, but looked at Kei.

The girl had just put the black cat back on the cat climbing frame and turned around to look.

"By the way, dinner will be ready in a while. Will Miss Kousaka also eat here? Yusuke."

"No." - Kato Yusuke shook his head, and just as he was about to reply, Akane Kurisaka spoke first.

"——Well, that's true, then I'll just stay and have a quick meal. Thank you for your hard work, little sister."

There was no politeness in his words, it was as if he was the master here.

Kato Yusuke's brows furrowed, while Hui just stared at him quietly, waiting for an answer.

There was a brief silence.

"Can I trouble you? Megumi."

"Well, that means Ms. Kousaka will stay, right~?"

The girl tilted her head slightly and said, "Yeah~ I understand, then I will continue to prepare."

After saying that, without waiting for his response, he just went back to the kitchen and continued busy with the previous progress.

Kato Yusuke stared at her back, unable to guess her emotions for a moment, so he looked away and walked towards the desk.

"What do you want to know? Miss Kousaka."

Akane Kurisaka heard the indifference in his tone, turned her face slightly to look at him, and raised a meaningful smile on her lips.

"What? Are you afraid of me?"

"What's the meaning?"

"Otherwise, why didn't you even dare to use your previous pen name? You even secretly changed it to the pen name "Fujimotoshu". Aren't you afraid that I would mess with you? "

"To be precise, you are causing trouble." Kato Yusuke corrected her statement and said in a deep voice: "Your character is too crazy. I just want to avoid trouble."

Akane Hongsaka sneered: "After all, aren't you afraid that I will do something to you?"

——Boom!

The dull sound of chopping suddenly sounded in the room.

"Sorry, you two."

The girl's voice came from the kitchen: "I want to ask what you mean by what?"

Kato Yusuke's eyelids twitched slightly.

It was a very soft and clear voice. The sound was as sweet as the wind chimes singing on the porch in summer. It was very pleasant.

However, combined with the previous movement, there was a feeling of trepidation.

Kato Yusuke looked back, and happened to meet the girl's deep gaze, which was like a deep and quiet pool, reflecting his appearance.

The words that came to my lips were hesitated, and it took a second before they were spoken smoothly.

"It's just something at work. I have some misunderstandings with Miss Kousaka."

Benisaka Akane on the side took over the topic.

"Stop fooling around here, kid. I've said it before, mediocre people can't survive in this industry. It's rare that you still have some skills, so let me squeeze them all out."

The condescending words were full of strength and ego, which made Hui frown slightly, but the doubts in her heart were temporarily relieved.

She didn't like this person a little, but she wouldn't make any presumptuous comments. She just looked at Kato Yusuke thoughtfully, said this, and then continued to cut potatoes.

Dongdong, buckle, gurgling.

The rhythm of cooking became gentle again, just like the atmosphere in the room.

Kato Yusuke turned back to his face and looked at the person next to him with a deep look.

Meeting his eyes, Akane Benisaka just held her chin with one hand, with a sneer on her face, as if she was mocking.

"Okay, let's get down to business. I've read the manuscripts of these two episodes. Since it's still interesting, I can temporarily put aside your violation of the agreement."

As she said this, she turned the swivel chair to the left, raised her right leg, and drew an arc in the air with her toes wrapped in black silk stockings. She swept across Yusuke's Dantian as if inadvertently and rested it on her left leg. above.

"Now, tell me the outline of the story."

Kato Yusuke didn't know whether she meant it or not, but this commanding attitude still made him feel unhappy, so he suppressed it without saying a word.

Seeing his cold confrontation, Akane Benisaka was not angry at all. She first looked past him to the girl with her back to him, and then to his face, with a bit of amusement in her eyes.

"Is this okay? You don't want your little girlfriend to know about us, right?"

The eyes vaguely conveyed a similar meaning.

Kato Yusuke narrowed his eyes slightly and gave a "whatever you want" look in return. Although the expression on his face was a bit cold, there was no emotion of guilt or compromise.

Seeing this, Akane Kurisaka frowned slightly, feeling that she might have misunderstood something.

She thought for a moment, then raised her foot to kick his calf, and changed her tone: "If you don't want to talk about this, just tell me about your arrangements for this work, and I can give you some suggestions."

There was an interval of about three seconds.

Kato Yusuke asked in a nonchalant manner: "What's the arrangement?"

"How long is this comic, approximately how many episodes does it have?"

"Less than a hundred."

Akane Hongsaka made an estimate and said, "Based on the single volume, it would be about 10 volumes?"

"It's volume 11."

"That's not bad. Today's readers are influenced by new things and are not very durable. Medium-length comics are gradually becoming the mainstream. If you dare to draw a long novel, you are courting death."

She stopped here, and then changed her words, "But judging from your current plot, 11 volumes seems to be a bit insufficient. If it is within 25 volumes, it may be about the same."

"No." Kato Yusuke shook his head, "Only 11 volumes."

"Um?"

Akane Hongsaka frowned, "You must know that the length of a work is affected by the number of characters, plot structure, length of the main story, etc.

Sometimes even the author has difficulty determining, why can your tone be so certain? "

By the end, her tone was filled with suspicion.

As a cartoonist who debuted as a cartoonist and is still one of the ceilings for cartoonists, no one knows all aspects of comics better than her.

Although she didn't feel it at first, when Yusuke continued to insist on the number of 11 volumes, she felt a little strange.

In the face of her doubts, Kato Yusuke had no intention of explaining. He simply responded with "This is enough to tell a complete story" and did not mention more.

Seeing this, Akane Kurisaka stopped asking questions, vaguely guessing that he should already have a complete plot development and context, so he discussed other issues with him regarding the plot.

Ignoring her bad personality, as the number one cartoonist, she is indeed experienced, and Yusuke Kato has also gained something from it.

As for Akane Kurisaka, she was also pleasantly surprised to get a lot of inspiration and ideas from his few words about the plot and character settings. As a result, she became even more excited and looked at him as if she wanted to eat him up. Go down.

The two chatted back and forth, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

Hui in the kitchen was attracted by their increasingly louder voices, and occasionally looked back while silently doing the seasoning work on her hands.

After the potatoes have simmered for about half an hour.

She then interrupted the conversation between the two and said, "Well, dinner is already ready, Yusuke."

As the sound spread in the room, Kato Yusuke also stopped communicating with Akane Kurisaka and began to walk to the kitchen to help.

After a lot of work, the food was quickly served.

The tomato beef brisket, which has been simmered for more than an hour, is brightly colored. The thick and soft tomatoes are evenly wrapped around the dark brown chunks of beef brisket.

The heat rising from the pot, accompanied by the rich aroma of food, constantly stimulates the appetite in the body.

However, when Akane Hongsaka picked up a piece of beef brisket with her chopsticks and put it into her mouth...

"...!"

Her expression suddenly changed, from a smile to a serious look, and then she glanced at the girl opposite her thoughtfully, silently put down her chopsticks, and looked at someone beside her.

Kato Yusuke didn't notice her expression, so he also added a piece of beef brisket and put it in his mouth to taste it...

A taste like beating a salt seller to death, so salty that it numbs the tongue, spreads in the mouth.

"Is it delicious? Boy." Akane Kurisaka asked with a leisurely smile, her voice full of amusement.

Hui didn't speak, just ate the rice in silence, just the rice.

The atmosphere suddenly became a little strange.

Kato Yusuke paused for a second and did not raise his head to look at anyone. He just took two mouthfuls of rice, then picked up a piece of beef brisket, and started eating with a normal expression.

"I think it's good."

He said this in a calm tone.

…

(The progress of the draft is 7/10, and the rest will be counted separately...)